How to make a claim for Universal Credit

Before you start making a claim you’ll have to make sure that you have the following:

your National Insurance number

details of a bank, building society or Credit Union account into which your Universal Credit will be paid

your rent agreement (if you have one)

details of any savings and other capital

details of any non-work income - for example income from an insurance plan

details of any other benefits you already receive

The government’s website also contains details of how to contact their helpline and links to various other pages containing information about Universal Credit.

Help from the Council to make a claim

The Council can help you to make claim for Universal Credit by providing free access to computer facilities and the internet at different sites throughout Gwynedd. At some of these sites we will have trained staff present to help you make the claim, which we refer to as Supported Access. At our libraries, you can make use of the free computer facilities, but with no specialised help, although some of our library staff may be able to offer you some basic help to get started. These are called Unsupported Access.

Information for landlords

People that receive Universal Credit will not receive Housing Benefit. Their Universal Credit may contain a Housing Cost element, and tenants will be responsible for using this money to pay their rent, even if there’s a shortfall between the money they receive and the actual rent.

The Government have prepared advice and guidance for both tenants and landlords on their website, which includes the procedures to follow to request direct payments if a tenant has rent arrears. Direct payments can be requested by contacting the Universal Credit Service – all these details are available on the Government’sUniversal Credit and rented housing website.